Google Makes Moves to Compete with Amazon

Online shopping has been a major game changer for supply chains around the world. Instead of worrying about the logistics of getting products to stores, companies must now worry about the logistics of getting products to customers’ homes. Amazon has been a leader in getting this done. However, Google is stepping up to compete with Amazon by adding a “Buy Now” button to its search engine results.

According to the Wall Street Journal, 39 percent of shoppers turn to Amazon first when searching for a specific product, whereas Google only gets 11 percent of shoppers. Google is still the most popular search engine by far, but it wants to compete with Amazon to get more shoppers. The “Buy Now” button could potentially divert a larger market share of shoppers to Google, especially since Google plans to reach a larger amount of retailers.

Google has not released specifics on how it plans to incorporate its “Buy Now” button, but it might be placed alongside product pages in search results. Or, an entire section of search engine results could be dedicated to the shopping results. Currently, Google gives shoppers the option of clicking on a “Shopping” tab to compare products. However, users must visit the retailers’ websites to make a purchase. Google plans to change all that by letting shoppers buy straight from the search engine.

Search Engine Journal says another way that Google plans to compete with Amazon is with the addition of a customer reward program. People who sign up for the program (for a fee) will be able to get free two-day shipping on most items. The idea is very similar to “Amazon Prime,” but Google plans to take it to the next level.

Amazon has perfected online shopping, but Google strives to do better. Google already has supply chain systems set in place. No date has been set for the “Buy Now” button to go live, but we can probably expect it in 2015.